API Error Contract Docs Audit

Audit public API documentation for predictable error-contract coverage, then export one structured checklist row per docs URL.

Use this Actor to review whether API docs explain status codes, machine-readable error bodies, request IDs, retryability, validation errors, authentication/authorization errors, rate-limit errors, troubleshooting guidance, and examples.

This is an unofficial documentation-audit utility. It reviews public docs only; it does not call live provider APIs or validate real error responses.

Common use cases

Use case	Why it helps
API launch readiness	Check whether client developers can handle errors predictably.
SDK/client planning	Find missing status-code, request-ID, retryability, or validation-error details.
Vendor diligence	Compare public docs before choosing or integrating third-party APIs.
Support-risk triage	Identify docs gaps that commonly lead to integration tickets.
DevRel QA	Produce repeatable evidence rows before manual documentation review.

Input

Provide public HTTP(S) API documentation URLs. Direct error-handling pages work best, but broader API docs pages can work with a modest page budget.

{
  "startUrls": [
    { "url": "https://docs.stripe.com/api/errors" }
  ],
  "maxPagesPerSite": 3,
  "timeoutSecs": 20,
  "sameHostOnly": true
}

Input fields

Field	Type	Default	Notes
startUrls	array	required	Public API docs or developer-portal URLs to audit.
maxPagesPerSite	integer	8	Maximum successful pages analyzed per input URL.
timeoutSecs	integer	20	HTTP timeout per page request.
sameHostOnly	boolean	true	Keeps candidate links on the same host as the input URL.

Do not submit confidential, authenticated, internal, or non-public documentation URLs.

Output

The Actor writes one dataset item per input URL. Rows include:

• domain, inputUrl, and normalized URL details
• auditScore, grade, and riskLevel
• checklist booleans for errorDocsFound, statusCodesDocumented, machineReadableErrorBodyDocumented, requestIdDocumented, retryabilityDocumented, validationErrorsDocumented, authErrorsDocumented, rateLimitErrorsDocumented, and troubleshootingGuidanceDocumented
• bestPageUrl, evidence URLs/snippets, pages analyzed, URLs fetched, warnings, and recommendations

Pricing

from $4.00 / 1,000 audited API error-contract documentation URLs

This Actor uses Apify Pay per Event pricing with platform usage included. The row event is charged only for useful rows written to the default dataset.

Event	Price	Unit
Actor start (apify-actor-start)	$0.00005	Once when the run starts.
API error-contract docs audit row (apify-default-dataset-item)	$0.004	Per audited API error-contract documentation URL row.

A row is one public API error-contract documentation URL audit result. Apify plan discounts, user-configured max-charge limits, and any future Apify pricing UI changes may affect final charges.

Limitations and responsible use

• This is a heuristic documentation audit, not legal advice, security certification, penetration testing, or live API validation.
• Results describe what the public docs appear to say; they do not prove the provider returns errors exactly as documented.
• JavaScript-heavy, blocked, sparse, or login-gated documentation may under-score.
• Human review is recommended before relying on results for high-stakes vendor, security, procurement, or compliance decisions.
• Use only with documentation you are allowed to access and review.

Data handling

The Actor fetches the public URLs supplied in the input and, when enabled, a small set of same-host candidate links. It writes structured audit rows to the run's default dataset and intentionally avoids storing full page contents in output.

Related Actors in this portfolio

This Actor is part of the API documentation reliability audits group. These are narrow, source-specific Apify Actors intended for scheduled checks and repeatable dataset exports — not broad scraped-content feeds.

• Webhook Signature Docs Audit — Webhook signature-verification documentation audit for integration readiness.
• Rate Limit Docs Audit — API rate-limit documentation audit for quota, header, reset, and retry clarity.
• Idempotency Docs Audit — API idempotency documentation audit for retry-safety and duplicate handling.
• API Error Contract Docs Audit — API error-contract documentation audit for status codes, error bodies, and examples.

Each listing includes its own source notes, limits, pricing, and responsible-use caveats. Use the official source links in each Actor when decisions require verification.